Andy_Bangle Posted October 16, 2012 Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 I know there's a few WRC haters on the forum but this could be a sad day for motorsport as Ford of Europe became the second team after MINI in four days to announce a withdrawal from the World Rally Championship after the 2012 season. Ford's motorsport division, in its current form, has participated in the WRC with a full factory-backed team since 1997 in cooperation with Malcom Wilson’s M-Sport. Last week, MINI announced that it will terminate its works involvement in the WRC at the end of the 2012 season by withdrawing its financial support for "WRC Team Mini Portugal". Now there will be only one manufacturer in the top division of the WRC. If they don't get some other manufacturers involved the series is going to collapse as a result of lack of interest. Without viewers, the advertisers go away, and when the advertisers go where the money goes away, and that will mean the end for the WRC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted October 16, 2012 Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 If they put it on a sensible channel, at a sensible time of day, I'd watch it, but they don't, so I don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuprabob Posted October 16, 2012 Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 Didn't help that Loeb wins the championship every year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted October 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 If they put it on a sensible channel, at a sensible time of day, I'd watch it, but they don't, so I don't. Exactly, the FIA struggled to get a tv company to cover the 2012 season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twinspark Posted October 16, 2012 Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 They need to make it interesting again. 1.6 turbo shopping trolleys on sanitised stages and short events just doesn't appeal to rally enthusiasts. We need to go back to the days of 5 day rallies, with early starts, lots of 'weather' and varied surfaces. Bring back some proper, fire-breathing 2.0 turbo proper-sized cars - ie. nothing smaller than a Focus, too. But it would need to be based on production cars, rather than 'kit' type cars, so you really could 'Win on Sunday, sell on Monday' - just like it was when Subaru / Mitsubishi / Toyota / Ford were all going head to head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted October 16, 2012 Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 I used to love WRC. Huge fan of it in the 80's and early 90's and I went to more stages in the UK than I could ever count on various rallies. But it lost its sparkle when F1 took the money, and that's the truth of it. It also suffered at the hands of the BTCC because fans went to races where they could see more than a fleeting glimpse of something. Access to many stages across the globe was impacted by safety concerns too. But, and I think this is the crux of it, the TV costs are massive. You've got to have air crews, you've got to have umpteen ground crews and that meant TV broadcasters started looking elsewhere. The characters went, the cars got boring and the stages with it. The end. I think this was inevitable. As someone who remembers the hey-dey of legends such as Toivonen, Vatanen and Co., it's very sad to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanG Posted October 16, 2012 Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 And weirdly, in most of the countries it takes place in, tens of thousands of people show up to watch it. Particularly in Scandinavia. Sad to say it won't get much coverage having lost MINI and Ford on top of the others. Tis a shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mort Posted October 17, 2012 Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 Didn't help that Loeb wins the championship every year He's taken a year off hasn't he.... maybe he wont come back ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimdiesel Posted October 17, 2012 Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 I think Seb wants to do circuit racing (WTCC with Citroen, but the car is not ready next year). Hence him picking and chosing his fav rounds next year as a wind down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser647 Posted October 17, 2012 Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 I have been to a few of the old rally stages when the larger Legacy's/Cosworth saloons, even Audi 200 turbos were in it. All getting chucked around in an unbelievable way. Watched it for ages, remembering the awesome thunder sounds, the massive acceleration etc. Then they toned it down, more rules, smaller cars, more rules, smaller engines, more rules and it lost it's sparkle. That and the fact it's not well advertised on TV now, so don't know when it's on. If we do actually turn over and it's on, then we'll watch as the sport is great. Not sure if coverage will improve with F1 moving from BBC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4ttm4son Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 Stick the replays on at half seven every weekday evening. There's never anything on at that time I have no idea when/ where it's on at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilB Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 The WRC has been dead for a good few years now. The last driver/team i had any interest in was Marko Martin in his Focus back in 2004. Yes there are green shoots with VW and Hyundai coming into the sport over the next 2 years, along with Red Bull taking over been the promoter. But the damage has been done due to an over dominance by one driver/team, along with a move away from what a rally should be and the rise in popularity of the x games in the USA. For me the IRC is the rally championship of choice these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mook Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 Can't remember the last time I saw WRC on the TV - think it was on Ch5, or maybe ITV 78. Long, long gone are the days of standing in a bloody freezing Kielder Forest with flame-spitting rockets hooning through mid-air, nearly taking out spectators as they carve their way sideways around a whole series of mental corners on gravel. Shame Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 Looks like RedBull have stepped in as promoter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 New rule, there will be a standing start from 30,000 feet, car & driver need to survive the landing & then they're off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 I wonder how many adrenaline sports would die without RedBull? I keep getting a job description come through to me for working out in Austria at their HQ but for some reason there's something about RedBull I don't get. I know the company is more about the brand than the product but something about them doesn't sit right with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4ttm4son Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 I can't get over how many cans of pop they must sell to justify the costs of advertising on this scale. Just in order to sell more cans of overpriced caffinated sugar water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 That was my point. The main source of income is not the cans of op. It's all about them being a marketing company. There was a really interesting program about them on TV 6 months ago. Until that point I also thought it was just to promote their product. It's not they're product is marketing! Maybe that's what I find weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stooH Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 But the marketing must have some end result, so if it's not the drink then surely it must be ticket income from the events? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 It's all about brand visibility. The exposure they got from the Baumgartner jump would have cost untold millions in any other form of combined media spend. I disagree with Scotty though. Red Bull are a drinks company - this was all about brand visibility to keep them in your mind. Their main revenue still comes from their drinks product. However, they market and distribute drinks for others. It's not their main revenue source though. They also earn revenue from their sporting interests. They own FC Salzburg (and renamed it to Red Bull Salzburg) and an MLS football team - the MetroStars - although they play under the name of.....New York Red Bulls. They also own a German football team whose name I can never remember. There are other sporting ownerships too, I'm sure of it, but I don't know what they are. The football ones are the ones I know about because of my following of the sport and the crap they got from supporters who objected to their teams being renamed. It's well known that Mike Ashley got his idea for renaming St James after a meeting with a Red Bull executive - because they've done it time and time again and got away with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stooH Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 Yes but having your team renamed The Red Bulls is slightly cooler than your stadium being called Sports Direct @ St James Park Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 All that marketing spend and I still don't drink Red Bull, somethings going wrong for them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 All that marketing spend and I still don't drink Red Bull, somethings going wrong for them! Not necessarily. They can't impact personal taste preferences or long standing beliefs or dislikes, but the mere fact you're talking about them would suggest it's going right for them. You're helping to keep the conversation going - that keeps them in the mind of others. Others that might buy the product. In a way it's like when someone launches a major brand protest - it can often have the opposite effect through the sheer visibility it gives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 We get incentive vouchers through work for stuff as a tax free way of saying "we'll done". Got an email today that Sports Direct have been added to the list of vouchers we can get. Given I've amassed about £400 of these vouchers this year alone, I could probably buy everyone in the northeast a dodgy golf umbrella by Xmas. Alternatively I could clothe the Milo clan for a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted October 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 All that marketing spend and I still don't drink Red Bull, But are middle-aged, overweight taxi drivers* RB's target demographic? * not saying you're any of those Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now